“Helen,
let me introduce Hector Rodriguez. As we discussed at the last staff
meeting, Hector will be working with you for the next few months as a
part of his training for the Pathfinder Mission.” The speaker was
Harold Tillman, the vice president in charge of site construction,
and her boss.

The
three of them stood near one side of a rectangular room about sixty
feet wide and ninety feet long. All of the ceiling beams and
ductworks were in plain view, and the structure could have been a
warehouse as easily as what it was: the control room for a remote
construction site. The space was devoid of any non-functional
furniture, decoration, or other accoutrements. On one wall were
multiple LED screens projecting images of several portions of the
worksite: one displayed a panoramic view of the entire site, while
another showed a diagram of the whole structure, with finished
sections, sections under construction, and planned sections depicted
in different colors. A large electronic sign was perched above the
displays with the words SCHIAPARELLI STATION glowing in block
letters. Judging by the desolate terrain, the construction site could
have been almost anywhere in the desert near Tucson, Arizona, where
this building stood.

A
dozen workstations were arrayed in a semicircle facing the large
screens, each with a seated technician in front of multiple smaller
screens that depicted various portions of the worksite in more detail
than the large screens on the wall. Each person in the room wore a
patch on the right short sleeve of his or her shirt: a red circle,
almost three inches wide, with the white letters “MC” across the
center.